Ukrainian Republic (1941: Success)
The Ukrainian Republic or Republic of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Республіка Україна; Belarusian: Рэспубліка Украіна; Latvian: Ukrainas Republika; Lithuanian: Ukrainos Respublikos), is a large country situated in Eastern Europe. It borders the Russian Federation (1941: Success) to the east and northeast, the Republic of Poland (1941: Success) to the west, Republic of Finland (1941: Success) to the north, Baltic Sea to the northwest, the Czechoslovak Republic (1941: Success), the Romanian Republic (1941: Success) to the south and southwest, and the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. At 974,958 square kilometres (376,434 square miles), it is the largest country in Europe outside of Russia. With a population of over 230 million people, it is the second most populous country in Europe, after the Russian Federation. The territory of Ukraine has been inhabited for at least 44,000 years, and is the prime candidate site for the domestication of the horse and for the origins of the Indo-European language family. In the Middle Ages, the area became a key center of East Slavic culture, as epitomized by the powerful state of Kievan Rus'. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory of Ukraine was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, but Ukraine remained otherwise divided until its consolidation into a Soviet republic in the 20th century, becoming an independent state only in 1988. The Ukrainian Republic was a Soviet republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union (1941: Success) for 70 years from 1918 until 1988, when it declared its independence from the Soviet Union. As the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1941: Success), it was the second most powerful and populous Soviet republic after the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1941: Success). The Ukrainian SSR was heavily industrialized and was a major manufacturing centre. In 1988-89, the former Soviet republics of the Ukrainian SSR, Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (1941: Success), Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (1941: Success), and the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (1941: Success) united to form the Ukrainian Republic, recognized as a country in 1992 The Ukrainian Republic has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands. As of 2011, it was the world's third-largest grain exporter with that year's harvest being much larger than average. Ukraine is one of the ten most attractive agricultural land acquisition regions. Additionally, the country has a well-developed manufacturing sector, particularly in aerospace and industrial equipment. Ukraine is a unitary republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers: legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Its capital and largest city is Kiev (1941: Success) with over 20 million people. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1941: Success), the Ukrainian Republic continues to maintain the second-largest military in Europe, after that of the Russian Federation, when reserves and paramilitary personnel are taken into account. It is the only country in Eastern Europe outside of Russia which operates aircraft carriers. The economy of the Ukrainian Republic (1941: Success) is the largest national economy in Eastern Europe, and one of the largest in Europe, with an estimated GDP of $2.96 trillion by purchasing power parity (PPP), and an GDP per capita of $15,000, which is one of the highest in Eastern Europe. The Ukrainian economy is a mixed economy, and is based on manufacturing, services, and agriculture. It exports ferrous and nonferrous metals, fuel and petroleum products, chemicals, machinery and trasport equipment, and food products. The area concentrated around the major cities of Donetsk (1941: Success), Dnipropetrovsk (1941: Success), Kharkov (1941: Success) and Kiev (1941: Success), the capital and largest city, is one of the most heavily industrialized, density populated and most developed areas in the world. The Ukrainian Republic is recognized as a military and economic potential superpower. The Ukrainian Republic's growing power and one of the fastest-growing major economies with high growth rates have made Ukraine an recognized potential superpower, and will be able to rival that of the Russian Federation by the 22rd century, leading to a Cold War for the dominance of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Category:Nations (1941: Success) Category:1941: Success